The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Art

806 Pages·1981·173.98 MB·English

by  Harold Osborne

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THE
OXFORD COMPANION TO
TWENTIETH-CENTURY
ART

The
Oxford Companion
to
Twentieth-Century
Art
Edited by
HAROLD OSBORNE
Oxford New York Toronto Melbourne
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1981
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, OxfordOX26DP
London Glasgow New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
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Melbourne Auckland
andassociate companies in
Beirut Berlin Ibadan Mexico City
Publishedin the UnitedStates
by Oxford University Press, New York
©
Oxford University Press 1981
©
Reproductions 1981 spadem, Paris; Cosmopress, Geneva andadagp, Paris
Allrights reserved. Nopart ofthispublication may be reproduced,
storedin a retrievalsystem, or transmitted, in anyform orby any means,
electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, orotherwise, without
thepriorpermission ofOxford University Press
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
The Oxfordcomp—anion to twentie—th-century a—rt.
1. Art, Modern 20th century History
Dictionaries andEncyclopedias
I. Osborne, Harold
709'.04 N6490
ISBN 0-19-866119-3
Typeset by RichardClay Ltd
Colour origination by Hong Kong Graphic Arts
Printedin Hong Kong
by Bright Sun Printing Press Co., Ltd
(ft
p
PREFACE
The decision to produce an Oxford Companion to contemporary art was taken
as a result ofthe reception accorded to The Oxford Companion to Art when the
latter book was published in 1970 and The Oxford Companion to the Decorative
Arts, devoted to fine craftsmanship, was in preparation. At that time it very
soon became apparent that many readers would welcome a reference book of
the same sort dealing with personalities and movements in the world ofcontem-
porary art at greater depth than was possible or appropriate to a one-volume
handbook covering the artistic activities of mankind from Palaeolithic times
until now. But 'contemporary' is an elastic concept and several possibilities
were open for determining the exact range ofthe new Companion. In the event
it was decided to restrict its scope to the twentieth century rather than go back
to the Renaissance or to Impressionism, leaving the period from the Renaissance
to the end ofthe nineteenth century to be covered for the time being only by the
more general Companion to Art. In this way the kaleidoscopic pattern ofartistic
activities and ideas, and the unprecedented multiplicity of articulate per-
sonalities, which have been a characteristic feature ofthe present century, could
be presented in greater detail than would otherwise have been possible.
The new Companion has been planned and executed as a self-sufficient book
of reference in no way dependent upon previous Companions. It is not a dic-
tionary or an encyclopedia, but is intended as a handbook and a guide for
students and others who wish to find their way intelligently through the exuber-
antjungle ofcontemporary art. Special attention has been given to the fluctua-
tions of artistic ideas and to the changing aesthetic presuppositions underlying
the sometimes bewildering conflicts of styles in an age which has often prided
itself on throwing off the shackles of established tradition and repudiating the
inheritance of the past.
Neither the lives of artists nor the activities of movements and associations
coincide conveniently with the change of centuries and problems of inclusion
and exclusion were inevitably met. As a general principle I have not included
articles on the great forerunners when the bulk of their significant work was
terminated within the nineteenth century, even though in some cases they lived
on into the present century. There are not independent articles on such great
precursors as Rodin and Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Cezanne, although
of course the nature of their influence in the twentieth century is indicated in
the relevant articles both on individual twentieth-century artists and on move-
ments. Yet inevitably there are borderline cases, artists whose work or teaching
straddled the centuries. Complete consistency was difficult to achieve and no
attempt has been made to impose consistency for its own sake. There are, for
example, short articles on such artists as Edvard Munch, so important forcertain
aspects of Expressionism, and on Gustave Moreau and Thomas Eakins because
PREFACE
vi
ofthe importance oftheir teaching or example in the first decade ofour century.
There is no article on the Neo-Impressionist technique of Pointillism; but its
successor, Divisionism, has a brief description because of its importance in the
literature at and after the turn of the century. And so on.
The question of a cut-off date imposed a much more intractable problem as
is inevitable for any handbook dealing with current matters. Many ofthe artists
included in this Companion are in mid career. Changes and development are to
be expected oftheir work, new and important events in their public lives. From
one point ofview it is obviously desirable that the material of the book should
be as up-to-date as possible. But, for living artists, by being right —up to the
moment the book would become out of date within a very few years or even
in some cases in the interval which must elapse between the ending ofthe writing
and the time when the completed book comes on to the market. In a book such
as this yearly revision and up-dating of part of the material is not within the
bounds of possibility. Compromise was therefore essential, and the following
compromise was adopted. In the case of living artists articles purport to sum-
marize their achievement and to indicate the nature of their performance up to
the mid 1970s. Only when some significant development or radical change of
style has taken place, or in the case ofan important event such as an outstanding
retrospective exhibition, has the survey been carried beyond that time.
As in The Oxford Companion to Art, the articles are of four main kinds:
biographical articles, accounts of movements and associations, elucidations of
special terms, and historical articles describing the development of the arts in
particularcountries or regions. The last group includes not only European coun-
tries, Russia and the Soviet Union, Britain and the U.S.A., but also Africa,
South Africa, Australia, Canada and Latin America. The latter articles, con-
tributed by leading experts, contain material which is not elsewhere accessible in
handy form. The increasing internationalization ofart since the mid century has
—
tended to bring stylistic differences geometrical abstraction or Construc-
tivism, expressive abstraction whether it is named Abstract Express—ionism, Tach-
ism or art informel, Conceptual art, the New Realism and so on into greater
prominence than national distinctions. Nevertheless national characteristics
persist and some knowledge of the artistic development which has taken place
in various countries provides a necessary background for understanding what is
taking place in the world ofart now.
Biographical articles make no attempt artificially to match wordage to pres-
tige. Indeed in some cases artists ofeminence whose reputation has ensured for
them a volume of readily available literature have been dealt with somewhat
more concisely than others about whom information is less easily accessible
outside their own countries. The latter include some of the more prominent
Australian, Canadian and Latin American artists and a few others as, for ex-
ample, the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti and the Italian sculptor Giacomo
Manzu. In a few cases articles have been perforce somewhat sketchy owing to
lack of detailed information about the lives and doings of individuals. These
last comprise some Soviet, some Japanese and some naive artists. Furthermore,
some artists have lived full and eventful lives, while others have lived more
placidly without derogation from the quality or importance of their work.
In general I have avoided intruding my personal appraisals but have tried to
PREFACE
vii
indicate by the tenor, not the length, of articles the sort of reputation and
standing enjoyed by artists in their lifetime or afterwards. Therefore when ap-
praisive judgements are introduced it is the intention to in—dicate, not my —own
personal assessment of an artist, but the general consensus or divergence of
critical opinion.
Harold Osborne
LIST OF SPECIALIST CONTRIBUTORS
Jacqueline Barnitz Art and artists of Latin America
John E. Bowlt Art and artists of Russia and the Soviet Union
tHeather Martienssen Art and artists of South Africa
Marshall Ward Mount Art and artists ofAfrica
Dennis Reid Art and artists ofCanada
Bernard Smith Art and artists ofAustralia
All other articles are by Harold Osborne
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Editor's acknowledgement and thanks are gratefully tendered to Dore
Ashton, for valuable comments and suggestions on the articles dealing with
American art and artists, to Bruce Phillips of the Oxford University Press for
his patient editing of this project over the years, to Dorothy McCarthy for her
meticulous and painstaking reading of the text and proofs, and to Charlotte
Ward-Perkins for the work ofpicture research.